Tag Archives: Jenna Applegarth

The alternate title for this post is I Have Too Many Things To Write About and No Time To Do It – my hope is that you’d rather have the news as it comes, rather than a comprehensive post about everything, so I’m giving you the tip of the iceberg here and trust that you’ll enjoy all the things at your leisure:

August Three – I had hoped to cover this in a Lindy Focus vendor post that may never come to fruition, but I got to see the beauties from this new swing dance shoe company based in Thailand and the quality looks great and I loved the custom color options. Would love to hear from others who have tried them! Jenna Applegarth has endorsed these and she is essentially the international swing dance shoe expert at this point, I’m not sure there’s a swing dance shoe company she hasn’t tried!

Pretty Retro – In December I discovered that my new favorite go-to clothing website, The House of Foxy, has an offshoot brand called Pretty Retro. I’m not sure what the differences are, it all looks like more glorious, quality vintage-inspired reproduction clothing and I am here for it.

Green of Grey – I found another magical trumpet skirt in the wild (which has since sold out, but maybe custom order? That bow, AMIRITE?) and a number of other adorable swing-era-inspired items in this adorable Etsy shop.

Groovy Fox – what a fun name for this new swing dance shoe company! Bulgaria jumps in on the dance shoe game and the results are lovely – we so spoiled with all these new shoe companies with lovely colors and styles. Loving the lilac and mint and wanting to build a spring wardrobe around these colors…

As life becomes ever more complicated and my work obligations balloon all around, I am sad that I haven’t had more time to post here, but there ARE some new things, so rather than doing a comprehensive post, I will post some new developments here as teasers and encourage you to do your own research into what appear to be interesting new products and some updates on things/companies I have reported about in the past:

Hepcats – a new women’s dance shoe company has popped up, courtesy of Polish dancer Bogna Jabłońska, thanks to Jenna Applegarth for the tip! Check out their Instagram for lovely things to come.

Trashy Diva – my obsession continues and they plan to release a New Orleans/Preservation Hall/jazz-themed print in the impending future. Watch their Facebook page or Instagram for updates about the release.

In the next installment of shoes Jenna Applegarth has recommended, a new company named Swivells appears to have their sights set on cornering the market on women’s oxford dance flats. I could not find a website for this company (which appears to be based in France), but the few photos and posts on their Facebook page were intriguing enough that I wanted to bring Swivells to everyone’s attention (particularly in light of Charlie Stone’s transition away from leather soles – we need more flats options!). Check out their Facebook page, like it, and stay tuned for updates on these candy colored oxfords.

The trend of swing dance-focused shoe companies continues and no one has their pulse on the dance shoes of now like dancer/instructor/organizer Jenna Applegarth – in my next installment of shoes Jenna has recommended to me and others in the Women’s Swing Dance Shoe Hunt! Facebook group, we have SuAli Swing Shoes based in Italy and owned by swing dancers.

You’ll have to pardon my complete ignorance of the Italian language – I’m using Google to translate the SuAli Swing Shoes website, but this is what I can tell from the rough transation (and really, we mostly need photos of these lovely shoes AMIRITE?):

By now you probably think I am a broken record posting about new swing dance shoe companies, but take a second to consider the history of our options over the past 20 years and how bananas this is right now that within the past year so many new shoe companies have emerged focusing on shoes for swing dancers and who made their presence known all over the world via social media. It’s awesome! I have another company I’ve yet to blog about after this post, as well.

I first heard about Swingz Begoña Cervera from swing dance instructor Jenna Applegarth, who posted a photo of her feet on Facebook in a most delicious pair of red glitter dance heels from this company. The company appears to be based in Spain and owned by Lindy Hop enthusiasts, whose “aim is to express the beauty and feminity through hand-made shoe-manufacturing, achieving a perfect mix of music and dance, and allowing you to personally and uniquely choose the shoes you most like to wear in your performances.”

“Our shoes have a wide toe box for your greater comfort, providing the space you need to stretch and flex your feet easily. They are also reinforced with both, a protective heel and toecap to prevent being hurt while you are dancing. Swingz are firm-looking and well-fitting to help you keep balance when you dance, but also soft and comfortable inside to carefully protect your feet at all times.

From the minute you order your shoes until you receive them, we commit to a creative manufacturing process which involves the selection of details, such as the choice of materials, colour, style and heel height. Always supported by our personalised advice, we want your shoe to be unique and able to fit you as you deserve.”

The 2016 collection is online for you to view and customize, but Swingz also has a selection of in-stock items if you need some shoes ASAP. US buyers, the exchange rate is looking good right now…

Here’s what I’m loving from their 2016 collection:

Plisado, in a gorgeous gold leather

Calado in black patent leather – sharp!

Estrella – this is a luxe combo and imagine how good this would look in many other combos…